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X-Factor Will Be Written by Mark Russell (No Sign of Multiple Man)
Well hot damn, people! The creative team and character roster of the new X-Factor comic book has been announced, and while I’m disappointed that Multiple Man isn’t in the comic, my disappointment is healed by the fact that writer Mark Russell, one of my all-time favorite comic book writers. I am freakin’ thrilled!
The full details of the comic are on AIPT Comics.
Formed by the government in response to a post-Krakoa outbreak of mutant paramilitary, ops squads, and mercenary teams, X-FACTOR will be co-led by Angel and Havok and include recruits like Pyro, Frenzy, Feral, and more. Part special agents for missions that require an arsenal of superpowers and part celebrity propaganda machine, X-FACTOR will wage war against emerging factions like the Mutant Underground and X-Term. Whether they believe in their actions or are just doing it for a check, the members of X-Factor are no fools when it comes to shady politics. As hidden agendas rear their ugly head, they’ll fight against the dark consequences and disastrous public opinion from the inside!
FAME, FORTUNE, MUTANTS! From the ashes of Krakoa, a new mutant arms race sweeps the globe! International governments are building their own mutant armies. But only America’s X-Factor has the most powerful, most patriotic, most marketable mutant heroes to stem the tide and make the world safe for democracy! Join them as they go from one death-defying mission to another. Who will die? Who will fall in love? Who will be the first to sell out? Like, comment and subscribe to find out!
The roster will include Angel, Havok, Feral, Frenzy and Pyro. I’m not all that thrilled about any of those characters, but that’s fine. Russell will work his magic.
If you’ve never read Mark Russell, his Wonder Twins and Flintstones comics are some of the best comics I’ve read this century. He’s phenomenal! And Bob Quinn on art should be fantastic as well!
And check out this quote from Russell:
“The thing I’ve always loved about the X-Men is that they’re characters first, super heroes second,” Russell shared. “So being able to write characters like Havok and Angel and Frenzy in a post-Krakoa reality is an opportunity to write about what I really care about, which is how do we help each other survive the apathy of the world we live in?”
I have been saying that for years! Characters first, superheroes second! Oh man, this comic is gonna be awesome! Though it won’t come out until August.
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New X-Men Relaunch Announced; Multiple Man Anticipation is High
Once again, like the dawning of the sun, the X-Men have reached another relaunch. I’ve been writing about this phenomenon for years, and I call it the X-Men Assembly Line. Every two to four years, the X-Men do a full, linewide relaunch that involves taking classic team names and jumbling random mutants into their rosters.
This time, the relaunch is called From The Ashes and it sees the X-Men splinter off into different teams around the country/world in the wake of Krakoa falling apart.
The full details are available at Marvel.com.
To sum it up, Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman will be doing X-Men, about Cyclops, Beast, Magneto, Psylocke, Kid Omega, Oya (now Temper), Magik and Juggernaut being mutant superheroes in Alaska.
Gail Simone and David Marquez will be doing Uncanny X-Men, and will send Rogue, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Wolverine and Jubilee down to New Orleans to get up to various shenanigans.
Eve L. Ewing and Carmen Carnero will be doing Exceptional X-Men, in which Kate Pryde and Emma Frost train a group of three new mutants in Chicago.
All of these comics sound pretty good to me. I love most of the work I’ve ever seen of these creators — especially Gail Simone — so I’ll be checking out every single new issue. They launch in July, August and September, respectively.
I’m disappointed that Krakoa has come to an end. I thought that was a really neat idea with a lot of potential, but I don’t think Marvel ever really embraced that potential. They resorted to a lot of business as usual instead of embracing an entirely different world for the X-Men. And now we’re back with some pretty classic X-Men styles, which is fine. I’m not complaining. I will gladly see what these new comics are like.
The biggest question for me, of course, is what about Multiple Man?
He is my all-time favorite comic book character, but he’s been pretty C or D-list for years now, and before that he was dead. But every new relaunch is a chance to him to actually have a role in comics again. He wasn’t around at the start of the Krakoa Era, but he eventually showed up and I was grateful. So where is he new?
Well, the new From The Ashes relaunch will also feature six supplementary comics: Wolverine, Phoenix, Storm, NYX, X-Force and X-Factor! The creative teams and rosters have not been announced, but Multiple Man is a pretty popular guy when it comes to X-Factor comics.
So it looks like I’m going to be in a perpetual state of getting my hopes up for the foreseeable future until I know where — if anywhere — Multiple Man lands.
I’m also going to keep my eyes peeled for Blob, to see if he reverts back to his villainous ways or the keep him on the straight and narrow. And, as always, Mimic, who made one single appearance in the entire Krakoa Era. It happens.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 7/3/21
Welcome to the fifth week of June in terms of comic book releases! That means very little was released this week, and I read very little of that. So really, we’re got a pretty news-worthy issue of X-Factor to wrap up the Hellfire Gala and then another brilliant issue of Beta Ray Bill.
Comic Book of the Week goes to Beta Ray Bill #4, carrying this series through as a Comic Book of the Year contender. With artwork this gorgeous, why to the rest of us even exist?
Meanwhile, life continues as expected. The Loki show is still great. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is still great. And by this time next week, I’ll have seen Black Widow! So huzzah!
Comic Reviews: Beta Ray Bill #4 and X-Factor #10.
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Hench-Sized Comic Book Reviews – 5/15/21
It’s the week I’ve been waiting nearly a year for! X-Corp has finally been released and Multiple Man, my favorite comic book character, is back in regular comics! What a joyous day! Too bad it had to go up against a new issue of Mighty Morphin. That comic can’t be beat!
Comic Book of the Week goes to Mighty Morphin #7 for another jam-packed issue full of neat characters, great story twists and the new Green Ranger!
Meanwhile, I’m still reading and skimming through the new Heroes Reborn big event from Marvel and I’m really digging it! The comics feel like a spiritual sequel to Amalgam Comics. They’re based on the lighter, more chipper tone of comics from the Amalgam era, and they’ve even got callbacks and references to “other” comics from the “canon”, like Amalgam used to do! For example, one of the comics features what is supposed to be a preview for a new Starjammers comic “coming soon”. And these comics are full of cute crossover/merged character appearances and cameos, like Johnny Storm of the Nova Corps! So yeah, I’m having fun with Heroes Reborn so far!
Comic Reviews: Children of the Atom #3, Mighty Morphin #7, X-Corp #1 and X-Factor #9.
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The 6 Most Interesting Dupes of Jamie Madrox The Multiple Man
The day has finally arrived that we fans of Jamie Madrox the Multiple Man have long been waiting for! He’s back in regular, ongoing comics! This day marks the first issue of the new X-Corp series by Tini Howard and Alberto Foche, a series I have long been anticipating as Multiple Man’s proper debut in the Dawn of X-era of X-Men comics!
Multiple Man is my all-time favorite comic book character. And it has been a long many years since he appeared regularly in ongoing comics — since the end of Peter David’s X-Factor in September 2013, in fact. And then he’s been dead for a good long while. But Dawn of X and the Krakoa-era are all about resurrection! Madrox has made multiple appearances here and there over the past two or so years, but X-Corp is now his time to shine! And I’m going to honor his return with a List of Six dedicated to Multiple Man!
Specifically, we’re going to look at some of the more interesting dupes to ever pop out of Jamie Madrox the Multiple Man! Join me after the jump!
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